Habib Toumi

Kuwait has arrested seven Egyptian expatriates for planning to set up an association to support Mohammad El Baradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, and potential contender in the 2011 presidential elections in Egypt.

Kuwaiti media on Saturday reported that security officials have prevented around 30 Egyptians from holding a meeting on Friday evening to launch a Kuwaiti branch of the newly formed National Association for Change, the formation seeking to build a consensus for constitutional amendments and change in the Egyptian political establishment.

Under the current constitution, El Baradei has to join a political party to run for president, an option that the 61-year-old former nuclear watchdog chief vehemently rejects. As an independent candidate, El Baradei must have the endorsement of at least 250 elected officials including members from the upper and lower houses of parliament and municipal councils.

“The police were aware of electronic messages sent by four Egyptians calling for a meeting at the beach front Sultan Restaurant in Salmiya,” Kuwaiti security sources said. “The police went to the restaurant and told around 30 Egyptians that the meeting could not proceed on the grounds that it was political activism and expatriates could not set up political associations.  Eventually, seven from the group were transferred for investigation,” the unnamed sources told Al Rai daily. continue reading…

Yotam Feldman - Haaretz

Israel is planning to complete a 240-kilomter barrier along its Egyptian border in three years.

The cabinet said that the $365 million wall was “a response to attempts to infiltrate Israel along its Egyptian border, which has security and demographic consequences.”

The barrier is designed to prevent “hostile terrorist activity, drug smuggling, the smuggling of goods, illegal infiltrations and human trafficking,” the cabinet said.

The announcement comes as Egypt nears completion of a subterranean metal wall along the Egypt-Gaza border, Israeli Maan news agency said.

According to the report, the fence will be outfitted with “warning measures” to ward off potential migrants. continue reading…

Chinese workers in Algeria - Echerouk

Egyptians top the Arab share in Algeria’s labour force, but their numbers pale in comparison with those of the Chinese who make up around half of the foreigners who are employed in Algeria, an Algerian official has said.

“The number of expatriates in Algeria has risen from 543 in 1999 to 45,000 in 2009. They are from 105 nationalities, but the Chinese make up around 45 per cent of the foreigners working in the country,” Said Adnen, head of integration services at the labour ministry said. “The total expatriate force is about 0.5 per cent of the total workforce which includes 10 million Algerians,” he told Echerouk daily. Egyptians represent 11 per cent of the foreign labour community, followed by Italians with four per cent. Americans, Canadians and Filipinos do not exceed three per cent of the total, Said Adnen said.

Slightly more than half of the expatriates work in the construction sector whereas the service sector employs 3.6 per cent of the foreigners. According to the Algerian official, 23 per cent of the foreigners have university degrees. Some 50 companies and 35,000 people from China are currently involved in one of Algeria’s most important makeovers, building 60,000 new homes, a shopping mall, hotels, an airport and a 745-mile highway among a series of high-profile projects worth $20 billion. continue reading…

Abdelaziz Belkhadem - Echerouk

The rotation of the post of Arab League secretary general among the member countries is “a perfectly sensible” move that should be adopted by the Arab states, a senior Algerian official said.

“The nature of regional and international organizations comprised of several national members is to rotate posts,” Abdelaziz Belkhadem, the personal representative of the Algerian president, said. “This is a matter of logic and common sense. All Arab states should discuss it. If there is a consensus that the Secretary General should be an Egyptian national, so be it. However, if the member states agree on rotating the post among them, then the agreement should be implemented. Either way, we should ensure that logic and law prevail over tradition,” Belkhadem told Algerian daily Echerouk on Tuesday. continue reading…

An Algerian website has emulated the US and developed a set of cards carrying pictures and names of people it thinks should be blacklisted.

In 2003, the US issued a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of the Saddam Hussain regime in Iraq.

The site’s list included broadcasters, singers and actors to be boycotted by Algerians for allegedly making derogatory remarks about them and insulting their country, local media have reported. continue reading…